From Hardware-Functional to Software-Defined Vehicles and their Security Issues

Over the next few years, the automotive industry is set to experience a revolutionary transformation driven by several interconnected trends such as autonomous driving, connected vehicles, and electrification. Our research focuses on Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), their definition, and an analysis of their possible cybersecurity issue. SDV is a new concept that is changing the definition of vehicles from purely hardware-based to software-oriented. The research analyzes the SDV security following the ISO/SAE 21434 guidelines, performing a complete vulnerability assessment to determine the main possible threats and their impact on different aspects like safety and operations. The findings suggest that SDVs may be the future of the automotive industry and will offer greater convenience and sustainability, throughout the vehicle life cycle but only if appropriate solutions to mitigate potential security threats like denial-of-service or jamming attacks, will be implemented.